Evaluating Angels: Trout, Cron and Cowart

July 7, 2011

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Q. What does Mike Trout still need to develop? What need is there for him to stay in Arkansas? Abe Flores: I think there's always that debate that he takes the first pitch all the time. I couldn't give you a big flaw he needs to address. It might be in the outfield, just some technical things. Q. If he were to get the call to Salt Lake tomorrow, do you think he'd be ready for that? Abe Flores: Yeah, I do. He's a confident guy, and he can handle it. Even if he failed he could handle it. PHOTO AND TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. This year's top pick, C.J. Cron, will have surgery at the end of the year. What will his recovery time be like? Abe Flores: Well, we're going to explore every option that's not surgery. With Dr. Yocum, surgery is the last option. We're just rehabbing. He now, he's staying in Orem and he's going to DH every game. He's working on groundballs, but he can't throw at all. (If he does have surgery) it would be a shorter recovery time than for a pitcher. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. We saw Alexi Amarista in the majors for a month, and you all got to see some of the places he was exposed by Major League competition. What does he need to improve? Abe Flores: Being a little better on the base paths. Leads and jumps. Alertness on defense. Opening up the whole field on offense. He gets a little pull happy. Really nice, good player, versatile player. It opens up a lot of options on the field. PHOTO COURTESY FUTUREANGELS.COM. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. John Hellweg has been almost unhittable in his career, but he walks a batter per inning and doesn't seem to be closer to getting that out of control. He's 6' 9" and gets tons of ground balls and holds batters to batting averages under .200, but ... what can you really do with a guy like that? Abe Flores: Patience. Patience. There have been some flashes of brilliance, but it's still inconsistent. Guys like this are not unusual in the game. Big stuff, below average control, command comes and goes. You're just hoping it clicks. Randy Johnson was probably the same guy. They have trouble harnessing that tall body over the rubber. PHOTO COURTESY CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. Kole Calhoun has been a beast at the plate in Inland Empire. How mobile is he? In other words, is he more than a future DH? Abe Flores: He is mobile. He's not the speediest of players, but he takes good routes. He's a really good baseball player. There's a guy who consistently grinds the right way, all the time, every time. He learned to make some swing adjustments, opened up the field, and he's progressing through it pretty quickly. PHOTO COURTESY FUTUREANGELS.COM. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. Kaleb Cowart has started his season in Orem very well, hitting near .400. If I had to try to find something to pick at, it might be that it's mostly singles, and he's still looking for his first home run. Does he have a power stroke in games yet? Or is that something he's going to need to develop? Abe Flores: That's a dangerous way to go. As he continues to make hard contact, he'll hit balls over the fence. It's something we never talk to a player about -- that would be ridiculous. For us, we keep it simple: Use the middle of the field, and if every game he executes that on a situational basis, that's more critical to us, way more critical than "this guy's got to start pounding home runs." It will come. PHOTO COURTESY FUTUREANGELS.COM. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. Tyler Kehrer has struggled, especially with control, as a starter since he was drafted in the first round in 2009. How has his transition to relief gone? Abe Flores: Good. Improvements. He's throwing more strikes and controlling the count and not letting counts get away from him. I don't think it was his stuff that was the problem, at least for me it wasn't. It was just pitchability. Q. Is this it for him, or could you see transitioning him back to starting? A. He's fine in the bullpen, and we'll just keep him there, unless we want to get him more set outings. He's having success. It's a work in progress, but we're very much happy for him. He can help us in the bullpen. PHOTO COURTESY CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. Jean Segura has now been out more than a month with a hamstring injury. Is this a more severe hamstring injury than he dealt with early in the year, or is this about getting him fully well? And is this troublesome for his future? Abe Flores: It's a little bit of a mystery to us. Once you pull it for the first time you've got to be 100 percent. We thought he was 100 percent, and he had a little bit of a setback. (His return) was supposed to be now. Now he's got another setback, so I don't know. It's a frustrating thing. We were expecting him to be back there. But other than his first year with us, when he had a fracture, he's had no history of having injuries. It caught us off guard. PHOTO COURTESY FUTUREANGELS.COM. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. The next impressive, undersized middle infielder coming up the system is shortstop Darwin Perez in Arkansas. Is he more of an Aybar, a Callaspo, an Izturis or a Kendrick? Abe Flores: More of an Izturis. Q. That sort of player has usually been used at a lot of positions by Mike Scioscia. Do you plan to move Perez away from shortstop so he could play second, could play third, etc.? Abe Flores: We will, at some point. It just hasn't been our priority at this point. We're happy for the year he's having. It's a solid year offensively. His issue always was a question of stamina, but that's starting to dissipate. PHOTO COURTESY FUTUREANGELS.COM. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. I love Inland Empire catcher Carlos Ramirez, but I mostly just know his bat and a few general descriptions of his defense. Will he catch well enough to impress Mike Scioscia? Abe Flores: For him it's more of a stamina issue, within stretches of games. It's a strength issue, a stamina issue, and will his play stay consistent if you give him a big block of playing time. Q. Is his bat for real? A lot of players draw walks in low levels that disappear as they move up. Abe Flores: Everybody pooh-poohs A-ball stats, but he's earned those stats. PHOTO COURTESY CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. Matt Shoemaker has gone from almost an undrafted afterthought to, over the past six weeks, utterly dominating: 69 Ks, 10 walks, and a 2.47 ERA in his past 66 innings. What? Just, what? Abe Flores: He's kind of always been a little under the radar. He's always been steady. The stuff isn't overpowering, but all of a sudden he picked up the velocity. He hit 94 -- that kind of caught me off guard. He's a pitchability guy, competes, a solid worker that doesn't translate to very sexy in the newspaper. The one thing about Matt: He'll have a few clunkers, but for the most part he always gives your team a chance to win. That's not always a given. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. Is Randal Grichuk ever going to get healthy and play? Abe Flores: He's getting close. He slid into center and stretched some ligaments, but he's moving around and taking BP and he's close to having a little rehab stint within a week. Once he gets through that he'll go to the Midwest League. PHOTO COURTESY CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. And what about pitching prospect Fabio Martinez Mesa? Abe Flores: I do not know at this point. Maybe by the end of the year. Maybe not. There's weakness in his shoulder. Q. Something specific? Labrum or something? Abe Flores: Just weakness in his shoulder. There isn't a definitive timetable. PHOTO COURTESY OREM OWLZ. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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Q. And, finally, is there a Peter Bourjos in the system right now -- somebody who is so, so elite at defense that we'll watch games just to see the plays he makes? Abe Flores: Yeah. Trout. It's a different context, not quite as dynamic. But I see this guy getting to all the balls, some tough balls you don't think he's going to get to. He's not as polished as Pete, but he makes every play out there. When he doesn't, beats himself up because he wants to make it. He's in that same strain to me, just a different kind of runner (than Bourjos). TEXT AND PHOTO BY SAM MILLER, OCR

Q. What does Mike Trout still need to develop? What need is there for him to stay in Arkansas? Abe Flores: I think there's always that debate that he takes the first pitch all the time. I couldn't give you a big flaw he needs to address. It might be in the outfield, just some technical things. Q. If he were to get the call to Salt Lake tomorrow, do you think he'd be ready for that? Abe Flores: Yeah, I do. He's a confident guy, and he can handle it. Even if he failed he could handle it.PHOTO AND TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

At the beginning of the year, Baseball America ranked the Angels' farm system in the top 10 in baseball. Since then, the Angels have drafted a bushel of new players, promoted many of their top prospects, and seen others have breakout seasons. We spoke to director of player development Abe Flores about many of the players in the system, including Mike Trout, Kaleb Cowart and C.J. Cron. Click through the photos to see what we talked about.

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